Free Song of the West by Nora Roberts Page B

minute.”
    Obediently, she accepted the bacon and took a bite. “Are you going to have something?”
    â€œIn a minute,” he answered absently, involved with breaking and beating eggs in a bowl.
    With the first bite of bacon, Samantha realized she was ravenous. Through her preoccupation with food, she watched Jake cook with a deftness that amused and surprised her.
    In a moment, he sat across from her, his plate piled high. She wondered how he could eat with such abandon and remain hard and lean.
    She watched him under the cover of her lashes, and the thought came unbidden into her mind that never before had she shared the breakfast table with a man. The intimacy of their situation washed over her; the scent of bacon and coffee drifting through the air, the house quiet and empty around them, the soft flannel of his robe against her skin, the faint masculine scent of him clinging to it. It was as if they were lovers, she thought suddenly, as if they had shared the night, and now they were sharing the morning. Her face grew warm.
    â€œI don’t know what thought put roses back in those cheeks, Sam, but keep it up.”
    Her eyes lifted to his, and she had the uncomfortable feeling that he knew very well what road her thoughts had taken. She dropped her eyes to her plate. “I should call Bree and let her know I’m all right.”
    â€œPhones are out,” he said simply, and her eyes flew back to his.
    â€œThe phones are out?” she repeated.
    No telephone, her mind said again. Without a telephone, they might as well be on an island a thousand miles from anyone. Their isolation was complete, and the snow was still falling as though it would never stop.
    â€œWith a storm like this, it’s not surprising to lose the phones. Power’s out, too. We’re on generator. Don’t worry about Sabrina, she knows you’re with me.” His words did nothing to erase her tension.
    â€œWhen . . . when do you think I’ll be able to get back?”
    â€œCouple of days,” he returned with an easy shrug, and sipped his coffee. “The roads’ll have to be cleared after the storm lets up, and you’re not in any shape to travel through a mess like that yet. In a day or two, you’ll be more up to it.”
    â€œA couple of days?”
    He leaned back comfortably in his chair, his voice smooth as a quiet river. “Of course, by then you’ll be hopelessly compromised, not a scrap of your sterling reputation left. Alone with me for two or three days, without Annie to add a thread of decency to the situation.” His eyes traveled down her slim figure. “Wearing my bathrobe, too.” He shook his head. “Not too many years back, I’d have had to marry you.”
    â€œThank goodness for progress,” she retorted smartly.
    â€œOh, I don’t know, Sam.” His sigh was convincing. “I’m an old-fashioned sort of man.”
    â€œIt’s only a matter of circumstance that we’re alone here in the first place.” With great dignity, she folded her arms. “And I’ve hardly been compromised, as you so quaintly put it.”
    â€œNo?” He watched her through lazily narrowed eyes. “So far, I’ve undressed you, tucked you in and fixed your breakfast. Who knows what that might lead to?”
    His smile might have been lazy, but it was full of meaning. Suddenly Samantha found it difficult to swallow.
    â€œRelax, Sam.” His laugh was full of arrogant enjoyment. “I told you I mean to have you, but it’s not in my plans to take on a pale child who barely has the strength to stand.” He paused, lit one of his long, thin cigars and blew smoke at the ceiling. “When I make love to you, I want you to have your wits about you. I don’t want you passing out in my arms.”
    The man’s arrogance was amazing! “You conceited mule,” she began. “How dare you sit